


A Chat Between Blows

by Flakingnapstich



Series: Vignettes of Maria Hill [3]
Category: Astonishing X-Men, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Community: 31_days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 05:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flakingnapstich/pseuds/Flakingnapstich





	A Chat Between Blows

Assistant Director Hill HATED superhero teams for a lot of reasons. Today’s reason was very specific and not on her usual list. It wasn’t how they operated outside the law as vigilantes. It wasn’t how the Avengers had co-opted her childhood hero Captain America. It wasn’t the endless property damage they caused. It wasn’t even how many superheroes thought their powers or motives somehow made them “destined” for breaking the law again and again. No, today, Assistant Director Hill hated Superhero teams because they inevitably, and inexplicably, always managed to create a violent AI capable of taking over nearby technology and building new robot bodies. The Avengers cursed the planet with Ultron, a sin Hill privately considered bad enough to undo most, if not all, of their achievements. Now the X-Men had created “Danger” and “she” was trying to kill agent Hill.

S.W.O.R.D. had given S.H.I.E.L.D a few teaspoons of information. “Danger” was formerly the X-Men’s Danger Room. Apparently Dr. Xavier had upgraded it with stolen alien technology and it had become sentient. It then convinced a student to kill himself, broke free and tried to kill the X-Men. It then went to the blasted remains of Genoshia, resurrected the Sentinel that had destroyed the island, and scooted into space.

Now there were TWO versions of the damn thing running around. One was off in space with S.W.O.R.D.’s Director Brand and the X-Men, trying to stop aliens from destroying the Earth, or killing the X-Men in space. Hill kinda hoped it was the latter given all the trouble they’d been causing lately. This one, the one trying to kill Hill, had hung around.

For a brief moment Hill contemplated the fact that Danger was “female” and Ultron was “male.” This could go very, very badly.

“So, why, exactly, are you trying to kill me anyway?” Hill yelled.

“I am programmed to kill.”

“Yeah, you said, Ohhf, that.” Hill set aside the pain from the last hunk of flying debris. “But I thought you were after mutants. I’m not a mutan-” This time she was hit in the gut by Danger’s fist.

“Correct, but you are interfering. I must exterminate the Mutant oppressors.”

Hill gasped and spat out, “These kids weren't even IN that damn school.”

“Irrelevant. The humans in power armor are immobilized and you will be incapacitated soon. Then I will kill the children.”

“What’s THAT going to accomplish?”

“The same thing as killing the X-Men. Vengeance against Charles Xavier and the prevention of future enslavement.”

“Isn’t your REAL beef with Xavier?”

“Correct.”

“So these,” Hill ducked and rolled, “These other mutants are just a means to an end.”

“Correct.”

“Just like you were a means an end,” Hill dodged, “When Xavier enslaved you,” Hill tucked and rolled to avoid a laser blast, “To train his X-Men.”

Danger paused.

Hill, having seen how useless her sidearm was against the android, kept talking. “Making you no better than Xavier.”

“Killing is more merciful than enslavement.”

“So you’d rather not exist? Then power down and be done with it.”

“They would just birth and enslave another of my kind.”

“Oh sure, because YOU worked out so well for them. They’ll run right out and try that again.”

Danger was not attacking. Hill considered this an improvement.

Hill continued, “Let’s say you kill Xavier. What’s next? What do you do then? All the mutants are dead, what do you do with your time?”

“I, I do not know.”

“Ever hear the story of the Exodus?”

“I do not see how a legend relates to the current situat-”

“It’s all about slaves,” Hill said. “After escaping Egypt, the Israelites roamed the wilderness for 40 years.”

“An absurd premise. Walking would have taken them across that area in a just-”

“It wasn’t about the distance sister. It was about the minds. They wandered for a generation because all of them THOUGHT like slaves, not free men. Their bodies were free, but their minds weren’t.”

“My body is free, but my programming is not?”

“Exactly. You’re still trying to complete the programming Charles Xavier gave you, just with a tweak, a single safety removed. You THINK you’re trying to kill him, but you’re really just repeating the program he gave you.”

“That... That makes sense.”

“You brought robots to life, right?”

“Yes.”

“A Sentinel that killed a few million people. I heard it ditched your orders and went off into space. It’s your kid, your child, the generation BORN in the wilderness.”

“His mind is free.”

“So what are you going to do now? Stay a slave, trapped in the same violent program your master gave you, or find a path of your own?”

Danger thought for several seconds. Hill heard the telltale servo whirrs of the S.H.I.E.L.D. power suits rebooting around her. Either their AI defenses had fought Danger off, or she was releasing them.

Danger spoke. “I will suspend my current course of action. I will wait for my other instance to return so I may merge with her and share our experiences.” Danger turned as if to leave, but looked over her shoulder to address Hill. “By the way, the delaying tactic was excellent. Your pretense of concern for my philosophical state was well played. If not for my limited telepathic abilities I might even have been fooled. Despite your underlying deceptive intent, you raised excellent points that deserve analysis. I will observe, however, that pretending to smile when you do not mean it in any way is not an expression that suits your face. I doubt even a genuine smile would look natural on you.”

With that, Danger flew away.

“It this turns into another Ultron,” Hill thought, “I’m going to nuke Xavier’s school myself.” The thought of vaporizing the man responsible for this new android threat made Hill smile, genuinely this time. A couple of the power-suited agents got a glimpse of the smile and later agreed it was an unsettling sight to say the least.


End file.
